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River fishing slows, but lower Columbia yields some catches

THE OLYMPIAN | • Published July 02, 2009

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Fishing hasn’t been spectacular anywhere in Western Washington again this week. Poor ocean conditions kept Westport and Ilwaco charters in port the past few days, and low, clear river conditions continue to dampen angler aspirations.

Probably the best bet this week is the lower Columbia River, which has been producing fair-to-middling catches of chinook, sockeye and steelhead.

Bank anglers are catching some steelhead and chinook at the barrier dam, but fishing hasn’t been that good for boat anglers throughout the Cowlitz. It has been about the same for Sol Duc, Hoh, Lewis and Kalama river anglers.

The Technical Advisory Committee met Monday and downgraded the adult summer chinook run to 58,000 fish from the preseason forecast of 70,700. However, the TAC did not change the sockeye preseason forecast of 183,200 fish.

Effective Wednesday, adult chinook (fin-clipped or not) may be retained from Bonneville Dam upstream.

Sturgeon fishing has been fair to good in the lower Columbia. The shad fishery is starting to wind down, and there is little action and catching by walleye and bass anglers.

The pikeminnow recreational- sports fishery has been improving, with excellent catches of pikeminnows in the Boyer Park area, Bingen and Columbia Point.

Saltwater fishing for halibut has been good in waters around Sekiu. Samplings taken Sunday showed 74 boat anglers caught 37 halibut, 10 Pacific cod and 3 Arrowtooth flounders.

Fishing has been slow in the north and central Sound, and not much has been happening in waters around Tacoma.

Catches of bluegill, perch and crappie have been very good in area lakes. Catches of trout have been fair.

Last week, University Place angler Howard Beaver caught a 41-pound lingcod in Marine Area 2 (Westport-Ocean Shores).

Rivers

COWLITZ: Last week, 20 spring chinook, 13 jacks and 112 summer steelhead returned to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery. Also, Tacoma Power employees released two spring chinook and 12 jacks into Lake Scanewa.

Some chinook are being caught near the boundary marker below the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery, and some steelhead have been caught near the barrier dam’s boat ramp, said Karen Glaser of Barrier Dam Campground.

Eggs and shrimp have been the preferred bait. Some jigs and bobbers tipped with a cured prawn also are being used.

Fishing has been slow for boat anglers at Blue Creek and about the same in the lower river.

Jarrod Ligh of 4 Corners Store reported there has been little action in the Castle Rock area.

OLYMPIC PENINSULA: Water conditions are low and clear throughout the area. There are fish around, and there have been a couple of days when catching wasn’t too bad, said Bob Gooding of Olympic Sporting Goods in Forks. Some chinook have moved into the Sol Duc and Hoh, as well as some sockeye. Overall, fishing has been fair, but angler pressure has been very light during the week, with a slight increase on the weekends.

KALAMA: There has been little change in river conditions since last week. Water conditions are low and clear. A few steelhead are being caught in the canyon and the odd fish is being caught below Modrow Bridge.

LEWIS: Some steelhead are being caught near the mouth of the river, plus a few near the hatchery, but it has been a matter of being in the right place at the right time, said Elaine Byrnes of Angler’s Workshop.

TOUTLE: The water is low and clear. There has been no action reported.

WYNOOCHEE: Anglers are finding a few steelhead in deep holes, but getting them to bite has been another matter, said Ron Adams of Verle’s Sports in Shelton.

SKYKOMISH: Some chinook and steelhead are being caught, but anglers are having to work hard for their catches, said Craig Holman of Sky Valley Traders.

COLUMBIA: Last week, Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel sampled 1,461 bank anglers with 99 chinook, 22 jacks,37 sockeye and 47 steelhead, said Joe Hymer, supervisory fish biologist for Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Also, 605 boat anglers (256 boats) sampled had 62 chinook, six jacks, two sockeye and 12 steelhead.

Success was best on the June 22 opener and slowed as the week progressed. Hymer said that while sockeye and steelhead generally stay close to a bank, summer chinook run in fairly deep water (at least 20 feet). Plunking works best for sockeye and steelhead, but you need to let out more line to find the chinook.

Through Sunday, an estimated 16,771 angler trips have produced 1,360 adult chinook kept and 419 released, plus 873 sockeye kept and 57 released.

Adult chinook may be retained on the lower Columbia below Bonneville Dam through Sunday.

Effort was high Saturday, with 711 boats and 614 Washington and 343 Oregon bank anglers counted.

JOHN DAY POOL: On Saturday, 41 salmon anglers sampled had three hatchery jack chinook. Two hatchery chinook and one wild were released.

WIND and DRANO LAKE: Tuesday was the last day to fish for spring chinook.

GREEN (King County): Steelhead are being caught in the upper river between Icy Creek and Palmer. Fishing hasn’t been hot and heavy, but it has been decent, with most fish caught early in the morning, said Todd Rock of Auburn Sports and Marine. A mixture of spinners, spoons and baits are being used.

NISQUALLY: The river is open to fishing from the mouth to the military tank crossing bridge located one mile upstream from the mouth of Muck Creek and from the tank crossing upstream to 400 feet below LaGrande Powerhouse. Prior to fishing, anglers should review the 2009-2010 Sport Fishing Rules pamphlet.

PUYALLUP: The river is open to trout fishing and is open to salmon fishing below the confluence with the Carbon River until Aug. 16.

Lakes

MINERAL: Fishing continues to be productive, said Mike Gordon of Mineral Lake Resort. Anglers are using worms, marshmallows and a variety of colored Power Bait on 3- to 5-foot leaders fished near the bottom. Several brown trout weighing 1.5 pounds were landed last week. The crayfish catch has been improving, with canned cat food and salmon heads and tails being the favored baits.

SPANAWAY: A lot of limits are being taken by boat anglers still-fishing using bubble gum Power Bait at the south end of the lake. Combinations of worms and Power Eggs also are being used, with best bite period being midday. Bank fishing has been sporadic for rainbows, but there have been some decent catches of perch and rockbass. Recreational boat activity has been heavy at times.

HARTS: The trout bite has dropped off, but the perch, crappie and bullhead bite has been very good, said Carol Parsons of Harts Lake Resort. On Sunday, a 14-inch crappie and 13-inch perch were caught by Renton angler Anthony Bowen using a crappie jig-and-worm combination. Also, several large bass have been caught, with one weighing 8 pounds.

ALDER: The lake has been producing some respectable limits of kokanee (8 to 12 inches), which are being caught by anglers using worms and maggots, said Chuck Parks of Alder Lake Groceries. Crappie catches have been good and, at times, so have catches of smallmouth bass.

SAINT CLAIR: Fishing has been good for boat anglers trolling a variety of lures. Wedding Rings have been the preferred gear, trolled deep at slow-to-moderate speeds. Bank angling has been fair most of the time.

OFFUT: Bass fishing has been on the upswing, with some nice strings being taken. Poppers and crankbait are being used early in the morning, and plastics are being used during the afternoon. Catches of trout have been fair for dock anglers and a little better for boat anglers. Overall, fishing has been very good.

MAYFIELD and RIFFE: Bank anglers are catching some rainbows at Mayfield and primarily landlocked coho at Riffe Lake.

SWOFFORD: Some bluegills are being caught by bank anglers.

MASON COUNTY: Area lakes continue to produce fair-to-good catches of trout, with most of the fish being caught during early morning hours. Standard baits are working in all waters.

Pikeminnows

Boyer Park, located on the north shore of the Snake River immediately below Lower Granite Dam, was the hot spot for pikeminnows last week. Three hundred and seventeen anglers caught 2,369 pikeminnows and recovered five tagged pikes.

At The Dalles, 249 anglers also recovered five tagged fish and caught 1,360 pikeminnows.

Fishing was nearly as good at Columbia Point, Bingen, Cascade Locks and Washougal.

For the week, 8,189 pikeminnows were caught, with 21 tagged fish recovered. There was one tagged pikeminnow for every 390 fish caught.

On Sunday, water temperature was 63.4 degrees at Bonneville Dam.

Sturgeon

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported sturgeon catches on that side of the Columbia was best in the estuary, where anglers averaged 0.70 sturgeon caught per boat.

Weekend checks of estuary boat and bank anglers showed 257 legal sturgeon kept, plus 14 legal, 65 oversize, and 558 sublegal fish released for 367 boats (1,167 anglers), and two sublegal sturgeon released for 13 bank anglers.

On the Washington side of the river (below from the mouth to the Wauna power lines), charter boat anglers averaged just over one legal sturgeon kept for every two rods last weekend, while private boat anglers averaged one every 5.7 rods. Bank anglers also caught some legals. About one-third of the fish caught were keeper-size.

Overall, fishing was better earlier in the week. A little more than 500 private boats and 20 charters were counted Saturday.

Downstream from the Wauna powerline crossing at river mile 40 near Cathlamet is open to sturgeon retention through Sunday. Depending on catch numbers, there could be additional days added.

Boat anglers from Woodland to Vancouver are catching some legal sturgeon. Fishing from the bank has been slow. One hundred and sixty boats were counted Saturday, with just over half counted in the gorge.

Shad

Effort, catch and Bonneville Dam counts are declining. Bank anglers from Camas and Washougal upstream and boat anglers from Vancouver upstream averaged about a shad per rod last weekend. Forty- two Washington and 33 Orgeon bank anglers were counted Saturday.

Less than 6,000 shad were counted daily at Bonneville Dam during the past few days.

Outdoors correspondent Bob Brown has lived in Washington for 35 years and got serious about fishing the region’s rivers and lakes in the mid-1970s. He can be reached at robertb1285@fairpoint.net.